3 Reasons to Keep a Collections Journal with Ashlyn of Nittany Bujo

One question I have gotten again and again is “What do I do with all my collections?” It really is a great question! Some people keep their collections in their normal bullet journals, but others prefer to keep them separate. Ashyln of Nittany Bujo is here yet again, this time to explain her Collections Journal and show how it works outside of her bullet journal. So without further ado, take it away, Ashlyn!

-Shelby

The Collections Journal

Collection pages are some of the most fun and creative parts of bullet journaling. The only problem is: where do you put them? After a couple months of bullet journaling, I found myself getting anxious about my collection pages being mixed in with my day-to-day planning. From then on, I decided I wanted a separate journal for my collection pages – a ‘Collections Journal’.

My Top 3 Reasons to Keep a Collections Journal

A Collections Journal can be anything you want it to be. My version is simply all of the layouts and pages that don’t mesh nicely with my day-to-day planning. Here are my top 3 reasons for using a Collections Journal.

#1. A Cleaner Day-to-Day Journal

When I mixed collections with daily planning, I found myself struggling to find certain planning pages. Each month randomly had more pages added. It took me forever to find my habit tracker, and I always lost my weekly. Keeping collections separate from my planning has kept my planning journal cleaner and more organized, just as I like it!

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#2. Everything Has Its Own Place

Similar to reason #1, a Collections Journal just really gives everything a home. I love that all of my collections are in one A5-sized place and my day-to-day planning is in its own compartment. For example, a new Instagram tracker not related to a specific month or year always goes directly into the Collections Journal. Similarly, a monthly layout for September goes in the bullet journal. It’s that simple now.

#3. Easier Reference

Lastly, a Collections Journal can allow you to reference your collections (and your planning pages) much easier. In my bullet journal, I only use tabs at the start of each new month. This way it’s easy for me to quickly flip to the month I’m working on. But in my Collections Journal, I use the front index as my reference. Since each page is unique, using an index makes for quick reference without using a ton of tabs.

Remaining Thoughts and Ideas

Ideas for Collection Pages

Now that we’ve covered what a Collections Journal is and how you can use it, here are some ideas for pages to fill it with! Pinterest is a great resources for finding collection idea lists, but below I’ve listed just a few:

List of lists

Books to read

Movies to watch

TV series tracker

Instagram tracker

Pen tests – these are my favorite collections!

Moving plans

Vacation plans

Ideas for Other Separate Journals

While I love having a Collections Journal, I feel like I want even more organization and even more separate journals. Here are a few more ideas for separate journal ideas I’ve been personally thinking about starting (YAY for buying more journals!):

Travel journal

Favorite recipe journal

Work plans journal

Business plans journal (for your start-up or blog)

Doodle journal

If you were on the fence about keeping more than one journal before reading this, hopefully I helped you pick which way to fall and you feel happier with your own organization process.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions, concerns, suggestions, or even just a chat! I love friends!

You can find me on my:

Blog: nittanybujo.com

Instagram: @nittany_bujo

Facebook Page: Nittany Bujo

Pinterest: Nittany Bujo

Youtube: Nittany Bujo

Go forth and collect away!

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Comments

Having everything in one place is why I switched to the bullet journal in the first place. I use my index all the time, so don’t find it a problem to find my collections. I have one index entry for the month, i.e. “October – 68-81” if there’s a collection in the midst of those pages, it just gets its own index entry. That said, I have been thinking of starting a separate journal for health & wellness related stuff, because that is stuff that I know I will want to carry on through numerous bullet journals. I.e. place for medical history info, doctor apt. notes, nutritional/exercise advice, etc. Now that I’m officially over the hill, it seems like there is more of that stuff that I need/want to stay on top of!

Yes. Thats exactly whats driving up the wall. My personal problem solver is the x17-Journal. here I can keep up to four different purposes, like calendar, Lists, Adresses sorted out and together at the same time. nd if my jornal is at its end, I just change that, every thing else stays. check it out!

love this idea but I’m doing a smaller Goulet notebook with about 90 pages for collections. Especially when it comes to books and movies I want to watch, it needs to carry over into the next year, so the smaller notebook can be moved easily rather than having to copy the pages into the next bigger notebook when pages run out.

Love this article! I love the idea of a separate collections journal. I just feel so spread thin between what I’m trying to maintain already! It would certainly free up a lot of space in my general buurnaljournal though!

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Hello there, I’m Shelby!

I’m a 25 year old who has always struggled with productivity. As long as I can remember, I’ve been frustrated by procrastination and my complete inability to get my life together. I set out on my quest and discovered... Read More…